Attitudes toward teachers as a function of student academic self-concept

Abstract

The evaluative dimensions students used in assessing their academic self-concept were correlated with judgmental dimensions students utilized in evaluating teachers by means of a stepwise multiple regression analysis. All students evaluated themselves as students in terms of academic skill and ability, interpersonal effectiveness, and quality of scholastic involvement. College students also evaluated themselves on self-confidence and style of intellectual inquiry, while high school students evaluated themselves on their tolerance. All students judged teachers on the dimensions of student/teacher rapport, communicative style, instructional style, and stimulation. Dimensions of student academic self-concept were significantly related to students' judgments of teaching: student interpersonal effectiveness was found to be the most significant overall predictor of high school students' attitudes toward teachers, whereas a student's assessment of his academic abilities was the major predictive variable among college students. Student sex was not a significant predictor of students' attitudes toward teachers except for the dimension of student/teacher rapport among college students, with females rating teachers significantly higher on this dimension than males.